Bjorn Sandstede
Professor of Applied Mathematics
Bjorn Sandstede pointed to a diagram of a blue and yellow hypnotic spiral on his computer screen. Then he set the spiral in motion.
As it rotated, he explained that contrary to what many people believe, the spirals are not moving in stable orbits but, rather, as “complicated meandering motions.”
To understand why is to grasp the kinds of questions that drive Sandstede, who begins this fall as a professor in the Division of Applied Mathematics.
He and other researchers seek to describe mathematically what causes an object in space to deviate “from a rigid rotation to where it meanders or drifts.”
The applications can apply to basic chemistry, such as explaining why chemicals change colors at different reaction states, he said. It even could have biomedical applications, such as with treating cardiac arrhythmias, an abnormal electrical activity in the heart that can cause the organ to beat irregularly. During such episodes, the heart spawns electrochemical waves in the form of spirals that can interrupt blood flow. Sandstede hopes research will yield more understanding into this phenomenon and ways to treat it, although he acknowledged the technology is a long way away.
While he wrestles with such complex formulas, Sandstede, who is German, should have little trouble adjusting to Brown. He was a visiting postdoctoral research associate in applied math at Brown from 1995 to 1996.
“I got into a new field, stabilizing theory of waves,” said Sandstede, who is 44. “It has kind of helped shape my career.”
His time at Brown also shaped him personally. Here, he met Alice Yew, a British graduate student in applied math. The two have been together ever since.
Sandstede taught math at Ohio State University from 1997 to 2004, working his way from assistant to full professor. He then joined the math faculty at the University of Surrey, just outside London, in 2004. He enjoyed his time there, but the cost of living was tough to handle.
Then Brown contacted him about an opening. Now that he’s here, Sandstede said he’s in a “dream job.”
“The tradition of applied math, the people whom I admire were here or are here. It’s just a great place.”